Jurupa Valley: Sheriff’s deputy fires shot at fleeing robber

A man robbed a motorist of his cell phone at a Denny’s restaurant and ran into the backyard of a Jurupa Valley home, and was caught by a sheriff’s deputy who shot at him, a spokesman said today.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at 6:07 p.m. Saturday to the parking lot of the eatery in the 6800 block of Valley Way, where the victim said he was robbed while he sat in his car. Simultaneously, a man matching the description

from the victim was spotted running away, Riverside County sheriff’s Cpl. Robert Martinez said.

Deputies chased after the suspect, later identified as Rolando Soto, 28, of Fontana, to the backyard of a nearby home. Soto allegedly reached into his waistband when deputies confronted him, prompting one of them to fire his weapon, Martinez said.

Soto was not struck by the gunfire and was arrested. He was booked for suspicion of second degree armed robbery and remained in custody today in lieu of $30,000 bail, records showed.

Soto’s alleged victim suffered a minor injury. It was not disclosed whether Soto allegedly used any weapons during the robbery.

The sheriff’s deputy who opened fire was not hurt and was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting, Martinez said.

Dang officer, why did you miss? Or trying to just shoot his leg? I can respect that but he would have probably killed HIS victim if he had the time, remember THAT.
Also, the officer needs to work not be on adm leave and when will the AI team guys get that right? When an officer who discharges a gun gets put on leave to relax, think it over, etc. he feels he is in trouble, the public thing he is in trouble, and everyone even the Department think he needs mental assistance.
He will only need mental assistance if you guys in the AI keep forcing them to look like the bad guy, they made a mistake guy by putting them on leave.
Put him back to work and let him continue to do his job unless he wants the time off.

The reason they get put on leave is because they are prone to making very bad, split-second, life or death decisions because they preoccupied and second guessing themselves. They will hesitate when they should be acting. That will get them killed. Or, they will panic and shoot when they shouldn’t. So, they are on leave. No one thinks it makes them look bad to be on leave, unless you don’t understand the reason why.